Weather: Applejack loves a day like this

The National Weather Service forecasts today will be partly sunny with highs in the upper 20s with northwest winds of 5 to 10 mph and tonight will be mostly cloudy in the evening.

KAREN JEFFREY

For those so inclined, it’s perfect weather for making applejack - a drink favored by some of our ancestors with two simple ingredients: apple cider and cold weather.
For more on applejack see Extra Stuff below.
The National Weather Service forecasts today will be partly sunny with highs in the upper 20s. Northwest winds will be 5 to 10 mph.
Tonight will be mostly cloudy in the evening, then becoming partly cloudy. Lows will be around 14 and northwest winds will be 5 to 10 mph.
For a more detailed or extended forecast visit the National Weather Service Website
Little Weather Show from Barnstable Harbor
Traffic:
SmarTraveler is reporting no major problems on major roads leading to and from the Cape.
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Or call: 511 or 617-374-1234
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Extra Stuff:
Of course we aren’t advising making the stuff, since technically to make applejack would be operating a still and that is frowned upon in polite society and legal circles.
However, in days of yore, New England residents were known to let a few jugs of apple cider sit for a while and ferment. That was step one. Step two involved opening the back door and depositing the jugs in a snowbank or, if weather was sufficiently cold, just leaving right outside the door. The jugs would be left to freeze overnight, and the following day, the slush would then be skimmed off the mixture, leaving behind a drink that would even leave a smile on George Washington’s face.
According to the book “Drinking in America,” by Mark Edward Lender and James Kirby Martin, (The Free Press, 1982, a Division of Macmillian Publishing Co. Inc.) in Colonial times, drinking alcoholic beverages was the norm.
From “Drinking in America,” as reprinted at DUI.com a Web site listing of attorneys specializing in defending against operating under the influence of alcohol charges:
“Hard cider, naturally fermented to about 7 percent alcohol content, became especially popular in the Northern provinces (although Tennessee took a liking to it later on as well), where the drink ultimately rivaled beer in popularity. By the early 1700s, and probably before, Anglo-Americans were distilling their cider into a potent applejack. Applejack found a particularly loyal following in the Middle Atlantic colonies, and the best came from New Jersey. “Jersey Lightning” was stuff fit for the serious drinker: Too much could bring on “apple palsey,” although one aged connoisseur recalled that he downed a quart a day over the years “without the slightest inconvenience.”
“In the South, particularly in Virginia and Georgia, the peach -introduced into Florida by the Spanish and spreading north over the decades -also became a distilling staple. Peach brandies emerged as great favorites, and a bit of this popularity still lingers.”